Sude Almus, a 7th grade student at Harmony School of Excellence in Houston, is one of 35 students in the US (and 14 in Texas) named a 2013 William and Dorothy C. Bevan Scholar through Duke TIP’s annual 7th Grade Talent Search.

Sude Almus, a 7th grade student at Harmony School of Excellence in Houston, is one of 35 students in the US (and 14 in Texas) named a 2013 William and Dorothy C. Bevan Scholar through Duke TIP’s annual 7th

Sude Almus, a seventh-grade student at Harmony School of Excellence in Houston, is one of 35 students in the US (and 14 in Texas) named a 2013 William and Dorothy C. Bevan Scholar through Duke TIP’s annual 7th Grade Talent Search.

Sude Almus, a seventh-grade student at Harmony School of Excellence in Houston, is one of 35 students in the US (and 14 in Texas) named a 2013 William and Dorothy C. Bevan Scholar through Duke TIP’s annual

Sude distinguished herself from over 64,000 gifted students who participated in this year’s talent search, earning a perfect score on the math section of the SAT and an overall score of 2100 (out of a possible 2400).

“I was really excited and so were my parents,” said Sude, whose favorite subject in school is math. “[Math] just makes sense to me. It’s really enjoyable. It’s like solving a puzzle. I get really satisfied when I solve a problem.“

Duke TIP's 7th Grade Talent Search is the largest program of its kind in the nation. Since its inception in 1980, over 2 million students have participated.

In order to qualify for Duke TIP, seventh grade students had to rank in the top 5 percent on grade-level standardized tests.

“Our Bevan Scholars are some of the brightest students in the country,” said Martha Putallaz, Duke TIP executive director and professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. “Their ACT or SAT scores as seventh graders surpass those of 99 percent of all college-bound high school students. We are extremely proud of their academic accomplishments.”

Sude attends Harmony School of Excellence just east of Jersey Village in Northwest Houston. Harmony Public Schools are charter schools that offer a comprehensive college preparatory program emphasizing science, mathematics and technology education, as well as parent involvement and extracurricular activities.

Harmony Public Schools operates 38 charter schools in Texas, including schools in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and El Paso.

“Harmony has great teachers and Sude has lots of very smart peers. The environment at Harmony is very good. They all support each other,” said Melahat Almus, Sude’s mother and a math professor at University of Houston.

Sude has attended Harmony schools since kindergarten and plans to continue on to the Harmony high school.

“We’ve had a wonderful experience with the teachers and administrators of Harmony,” Melahat said.

Sude is not the first Harmony student to earn a perfect score on the SAT, as two students last year also achieved perfect scores on portions of the SAT.

In 2011, 94 percent of Harmony high school students participated in the SAT, as compared to the 54 percent statewide average, and scored higher overall.

“Here at Harmony, we have better math and science education. We have very high expectations from all of our students,” said Sefik Ekmen, assistant principal and dean of academics for the Harmony School of Excellence.

Sude is on the Harmony MathCounts team, a national math competition program. She said her training through MathCounts and studying with an SAT practice book helped her prepare for the test.

“I studied a lot, so I just focused on doing the test,” she said. “I improved a lot this year.”

Sude has distinguished herself in many ways this year, including placing first with her MathCounts team at the Greater Houston Chapter competition. She also placed sixth place in a Houston algebra competition against high school students.

Apart from being a whiz at math, Sude has an artistic side, winning first place in her grade category in the 1st Annual Harmony-wide Art Exhibition and Competition in March. Students created two-dimensional works of art following the theme "Where I'm From...A Personal Narrative."

“Sude has always been an exceptional young lady, both in terms of her character and performance. She’s a very well rounded individual,” said Julie Norton, Sude’s first grade math teacher at Harmony. “Although she’s very strong in math, she’s also strong in reading and writing. She is destined to do remarkable things.”

Along with 1,670 other talent search participants who scored in the top 3 percent on the ACT or SAT, Sude was recognized for her achievement at the Grand Recognition Ceremony on May 20 at Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University.

The Bevan Scholarship covers the cost of attendance to TIP’s Center for Summer Studies, held at Duke University and several other college campuses around the country. During the three-week residential session, students will take one course of their choice, usually covering the equivalent of a full year of high school material.

Sude plans on attending the Summer Studies program next year at Duke and is considering taking a course in geometry, algebra or macroeconomics.

Although she still has one year of middle school left, Sude is already thinking about college. She and her family recently visited Duke and she is considering Boston University and Stanford.

As a reward for her stellar performance on the SAT, Sude’s parents took her on a trip to Universal Studios.

“I’m very proud. We weren’t expecting the perfect score. It was surprising and we are very proud,” Melahat said of her daughter’s achievement.